Assessment of neuropsychological performance in Mexico City youth using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB)

Abstract

Background:The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) is a computerized tool used to measure cognitive function in diverse populations, and is sensitive for assessing developmental changes in children. Although CANTAB has been used in several countries, its applicability in a Mexican child population is unknown. This study examined developmental trends on CANTAB in a large sample of urban Mexico City youth, and tested the hypothesis that their performance would be similar to a large American normative sample. Methods: As part of a birth cohort, Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants, 826 children, ages 5-15, completed CANTAB. Subtests measured planning (Stockings of Cambridge; SOC), short-term memory (Delayed Matching to Sample; DMS), sustained attention (Rapid Visual Information Processing; RVP), ability to match visual stimuli (Match to Sample Visual Search; MTS), flexibility (Intra-extra Dimensional Set Shift; IED), and response inhibition (Stop Signal Task; SST). Determinants of performance on the CANTAB, including age, maternal/ child IQ, and sex, were analyzed using Spearman correlation and Welch t-tests. Equivalence testing compared performance with existing norms.Results: Performance improved with age on all measures. Child-IQ was mildly associated with measures of memory and attention but not executive functioning, consistent with American norms. Maternal-IQ was not associated with any outcomes, and males performed better on IED. Mexican norms were comparable to American norms on almost all outcomes, with the exception of a shortterm visual recognition memory task (DMS).

Measuring visual matching and short-term recognition memory with the CANTAB® Delayed Matching to Sample task in schoolchildren: Effects of demographic influences, multiple outcome measures and regression-based normative data

“…Boys responded faster without making more (or fewer) mistakes than girls. This is in line with others who did not find sex differences on the DMS accuracy (Green et al, 2019;Luciana & Nelson, 1998). Yet, we reported not only on accuracy but on response latency as well, which explains the differences in findings, i.e., an effect of sex on response latency.…”

“…Further support for content validity (i.e., the test measures what is said to be measured) is found in, for instance, Green and colleagues (2019) who administered the DMS in a group of 5-15 years old children from Mexico City. Green et al (2019) found in line with the above researchers that DMS scores continue to improve (linearly) into adolescence, i.e., up until age 15 years old. They found for instance, that children aged 5 produced on average approximately 60% correct solutions on the DMS test, whereas children, e.g., aged 7 scored approximately 74% correct solutions.…”

“…For one, performance on the DMS test has been shown to improve with age, i.e., from early childhood well into the middle school years (Huang, Klein, & Leung, 2016;Perlman, Huppert, & Luna, 2015). Studies including typically developing children using the DMS paradigm have shown that this test can be administered in children as young as 5 years and older and that the cognitive functions measured with the DMS develop rapidly in young children and mature in adolescence (Green et al, 2019;Paule et al, 1998;Roque et al, 2011;Luciana, 2003;Luciana & Nelson, 1998, 2002 see below for more details on developmental trajectories of DMS scores). Further support for content validity (i.e., the test measures what is said to be measured) is found in, for instance, Green and colleagues (2019) who administered the DMS in a group of 5-15 years old children from Mexico City.…”

“…Data on the relation between sex differences in performances on the DMS task, or tasks measuring constructs similar to those measured with the DMS task such as visual memory, are still inconclusive: several studies (e.g., Green et al, 2019;Luciana & Nelson, 1998) did not find any sex differences on the DMS total accuracy in children. However, León, Cimadevilla, and Tascón (2014) proposed a developmental view on sex differences in visual memory in childhood.…”

Going “Up” to Move Forward: S-1 Bifactor Models and the Study of Neurocognitive Abilities in Psychopathology

“…We also developed, and added to the data set, variables representing two of Caspi et al’s [ 5 ] measures of executive functioning, the Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery—Rapid Visual Information Processing task (CANTAB: RVIP). We developed these data based on the correlations between the two executive functioning measures and externalising, internalising and the p -factor from Caspi et al’s [ 5 ] revised bifactor model, as well as correlations found within the literature between the two executive functioning variables, and adult measures of IQ [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. To illustrate how S-1 bifactor models can facilitate the interpretation of novel findings, we also developed a second set of data for the TMT-B and the CANTAB: RIVP.…”